how much should it cost?

[jdoggystyle]

how much should it cost on average to replace all ball joints and tie rods on my 98 k1500 z71? and how hard is it to do it myself.

 

[90chevstepside]

ball joints were around $100 for the 4, and tierods were $32.99 each last year if i remember correctly. if you're talking about labor, i haven't got a clue.

 

[am92]

I took mine in to get an alignment a while back and they said my ball joints were bad...They wanted $400 to do all four. I think they were charging for 4 hrs of labor iirc. They also wanted to do idler arm, pitman arm, tie rod ends, shocks, and breaks. Total of about $2000...They probably thought I was some dumb kid whose parents would pay for it. Needless to say, I will not be returning there. Anyway, its kinda a PITA to do the ball joints because you have to grind off or drill out the rivets and you'll have to borrow a press and pickle fork from a parts store, but for 1/4 the price it would cost for the shop to do it, I figured it out myself.

 

[ActionJackson]

go to rock auto.com for cheap ball joints
i just had mine done along with my pittman arm and idler arm
for my right side upper and lower along with labor to put on the pittman and idler arm which costs more labor wiise to do on a 4x4 because the steering box has to be removed all mine labor wise was 350 and i provided the pittman arm and ball joints

 

[dirtridinz71]

I took mine in to get an alignment a while back and they said my ball joints were bad...They wanted $400 to do all four. I think they were charging for 4 hrs of labor iirc. They also wanted to do idler arm, pitman arm, tie rod ends, shocks, and breaks. Total of about $2000...They probably thought I was some dumb kid whose parents would pay for it. Needless to say, I will not be returning there. Anyway, its kinda a PITA to do the ball joints because you have to grind off or drill out the rivets and you'll have to borrow a press and pickle fork from a parts store, but for 1/4 the price it would cost for the shop to do it, I figured it out myself.

I think that is what I was quoted a long time ago for a shop to do balljoints, was 2 hours per side, this was just to replace them, no grinding/drilling needed.

To do yourself it is not a terrible job. The uppers if still OE will need the factory rivets grinded off then drilled out, new ones come with bolts instead. The lower BJ's on the 98 should be pressed in so you will need a ball joint removeal tool. Also need a 36mm socket to undo the CV nut and a pickle fork to seperate the balljoints from knuckle. Spend the little extra $$$ the first time you do the front end and get good parts like MOOG with a lifetime warrenty, they do last better then cheapo parts.

The tie-rods are simple to change, just get new adjuster sleves. Remove the old ones to make new setup the same length.

 

[96-1500]

I bought a ball joint press at princess auto for about $100 on sale, I think they were normally $120 or something. Not the greatest quality tool, but I did my ball joints no problem, so I figure it paid for itself with that one job, compared to the price of labour. Every other job is a bonus.
The pickle fork I bought was too small, I already had my truck torn apart and the parts store was about an hour away and closed for the weekend. If you get creative you can separate the joints without a pickle fork (I put a bottle jack under the lower ball joint stud, jacked up just a little, and tapped the spindle a couple times and it popped).

Same thing with the upper, got one side off couldn't get the other, had the lower ball joints off already, pulled the bearing and CV and the upper control arm so the spindle was out, put a bottle jack between the lower ball joint mounting ear (or whatever it's called) and jacked up a little on the upper ball joint stud. One whack and she popped out, put everything back together no problem.

...I don't recommend doing it that way though, get the right tools...it will save you a lot of time and aggravation